When school starts again, many children log on to TikTok to stay in touch with classmates or to kill boredom with endless videos.
To protect minors on the social media platform, Tara Wadhwa, TikTok’s global head of regional product policy, recently presented these settings to the media at a safety meeting.
Registration
In most markets, TikTok users must be at least 13 years old to create an account. In Quebec, the required minimum age is 14.
To ensure that minors do not create youth accounts or register on the platform despite not having reached the minimum age, TikTok requires all users to provide a date of birth when registering.
The platform does not specify a minimum age to open an account on the registration screen, and if you provide a date of birth that does not meet the threshold, you will not be able to change your answer to try to circumvent TikTok’s rules.
Because “not everyone honestly states their date of birth when registering,” says Wadhwa, TikTok is always on guard for accounts that are believed to belong to someone under the age of 13.
To identify users who are under the age limit, TikTok looks for clues in their bio or posts, such as when someone says they celebrated their 11th birthday or are starting second grade.
According to Wadhwa, the platform has deleted about six million accounts in the last six months that were allegedly opened by people under the age of 13.
Family mating
When teens open a TikTok account, their parents can opt into a program called “Family Pairing,” according to Wadhwa.
Family Linking allows parents to link their accounts directly with those of their teens and ensure that their children’s TikTok settings are agreed upon as a family.
Family pairing allows parents to set screen time limits for their children, pause notifications during bedtime and even decide whether their children can receive direct messages or who can comment on their content, Wadhwa said.
Screen time limits
For users under 18, daily screen time on TikTok is automatically limited to 60 minutes. To get an additional 30 minutes of watch time, a parent or guardian must set or enter an existing passcode.
Settings
Users under the age of 18 cannot use TikTok’s live stream feature. Anyone under the age of 16 has default settings that prohibit them from using direct messages.
TikTok users can also use their settings to decide who can watch their videos, comment on their posts and send them direct messages, Wadhwa said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 18, 2024.
The Canadian Press
